


A Life In the Day

by Anath_Tsurugi



Series: The Winter Soldier [5]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Other, family life, they all have kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-06
Updated: 2014-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-14 03:08:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/832004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anath_Tsurugi/pseuds/Anath_Tsurugi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Companion piece to my Winter Soldier trilogy. A collection of one-shots, little moments in the lives of the Avengers family. Day 9: In which Steve and Bucky catch a glimpse of Loki and the children. Day 10: In which the pack plays pretend and Bruce worries. Day 11: In which Bucky has a nightmare. Day 12: In which the pack plays paint ball aboard the Helicarrier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Birds and the Bees

**Author's Note:**

> So yes, this is a companion piece to my Winter Soldier trilogy, and it's just going to contain snippets from the lives of the Avengers family that are fun, cute, angsty, all manner of stuff, but that don't necessarily tie into the main story line. As a start, I've decided to show you all the circumstances surrounding the births of the other Avengers offspring, since you already got to see the births of the first four in To Have and To Hold.

**Chase**

In truth, Darcy Lewis had known she was pregnant nearly a month before the assault on the 2R compound. The moment she'd announced it to an elevator full of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Asgardians before rushing headlong into battle had simply been the moment she'd gathered up enough guts to tell the two people it mattered to: Sif and Fandral.

She and Fandral had parted ways amicably about three months after Steve and Bucky had gotten engaged. They had never been a truly serious item, more of a friends with benefits type situation. Somehow, though, she felt certain that their last time together had been when the baby was conceived.

Sif had started off much the same way Fandral had…a friend with benefits. Sif hadn't been with many people in her life, preferring to focus on honing her skills in battle, so it had been a hard won victory for Darcy…and after those first few times, it had somehow started to become serious. Darcy wasn't the jealous type. She had often joined her previous partners in eyeing a particularly attractive piece of male or female ass, but it was different with Sif. She felt a twinge of the green monster whenever the warrior woman would admire another Asgardian, desiring for Sif to look only at her. It was strange. She's only ever been truly serious about one other person and that had ended badly just before she'd started on the internship that had changed her life.

Not only was Darcy jealous, but she found she missed Sif terribly when she was back in Asgard and could hardly wait for the times when she would come to visit, or when she herself could get the time off to make the journey to Asgard. She had never made the trip for any of the other Asgardians she'd ever been with…no one except for Sif. Neither did she admit to the Asgardian just how serious her feelings were, for fear of driving her away.

She didn't think much of it that first month when she skipped her period. A random skip had happened a time or two before without consequence. She was happy with Sif and hadn't been thinking about much else. She might have noticed it sooner when she skipped the second month, but that been around the time when the whole business with HYDRA and 2R had begun, and her thoughts had been otherwise occupied. As Jane drew closer and closer to giving birth to her baby, though, Darcy had started to get suspicious, but it wasn't until Mimir made his offhand comment about mothering instincts that she finally got the nerve to take a pregnancy test, only to confirm what she had already known. She was going to have a baby… _Fandral's_ baby.

It probably wasn't the wisest decision, to go into battle the day of the assault, but it would have seemed strange to them for her to _not_ go…and it had given her the chance to spring the news on them. Of course, there hadn't been time for discussion at the moment, as fighting was imminent, and then she had to go and get herself hit by a HYDRA bullet, sending Sif into a rage. Once the fighting was over, the Asgardian had immediately carried her to one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. medics Fury had sent in; and when it was confirmed neither she nor the baby was in immediate danger, the warrior woman had fallen into a sullen silence, leaving Darcy to worry about their future. The three didn't have a chance to talk until they'd arrived back at the Helicarrier.

"How long have you known?" Sif asked her.

"A few weeks."

"And far along are you?"

"About three months, I think."

Sif looked up at her then, a look of pale hope shining in her eyes. "So you and Fandral…you didn't…you did not…while we've been-"

"No!" both she and Fandral insisted at once.

"I have not been with Darcy since we ended things," Fandral swore. "I see the way you care for her, Sif. You are my friend and I would never do anything to hurt you. What was between us is ended, on my honor as a warrior."

"I think it…probably happened that last time…and there's been so much going on recently, I didn't…it just sort of snuck up on me."

"So…what does Midgardian protocol dictate be done at this point?" Sif asked, looking slightly nervous.

"Well…used to be my dad would force Fandral to marry me at shotgun point, but we're doing a little better these days. Really, I think my dad would be happy I'm having a kid at all."

"But you are not…required to be with him?" Sif pressed.

"Not if I don't want to, no…and I don't," she rushed to reassure her lover when she saw fear flare up in her eyes. "Sif, you're…more than just a girlfriend to me. I'm…actually very serious about you. I think I might…want to be with you for the rest of my life…if you catch my meaning," Darcy said haltingly, realizing that she'd sort of revealed her true feelings for Sif without really meaning to. For what felt like several moments, they all sat in silence, Darcy fearing she might have just ended their relationship and Sif still trying to catch her breath after having her one wish so suddenly granted.

"I…take your meaning, Darcy. I am also…serious…about you. In fact, I had feared you were not…serious about me…and I didn't know what I would do if your eyes started to wander elsewhere."

"Well, I almost dislike saying that I told you so, Sif, but I did," Fandral said somewhat smugly, but he was largely ignored as the two women embraced each other, pressing fierce kisses to each other's lips. Just when Fandral was feeling he probably ought to leave, though, he heard Darcy speaking.

"What happens in Asgard…when something like this happens?"

"The child will be raised as the child of Sif and Darcy…but will always be recognized as _my_ firstborn in court. If I have no other children, all that is mine will pass to this child. Whether you want me…involved or not…is up to you," Fandral explained.

"Well, of _course_ you should be involved. The kid _is_ yours," Darcy said, offering him a wry grin…and when Chase Han Lewis was born early about five months later, Fandral had the honor of giving him his Asgardian name: Bjorn…Bjorn Fandralson.

**Phillip**

The assault on the 2R compound had been over only about a week when Pepper pulled Tony away from a project he was working on with Bruce and dragged him to their room. Tony wasn't sure he'd ever get used to the fact that Pepper now had the strength to drag him wherever she wanted, even after nearly two years of it. It could get interesting in the bedroom sometimes, but there were also times when Tony was legitimately afraid of Pepper. Now was just such a time.

"What did I do this time?" he asked as she pushed him onto their bed. At first, he was confused and indignant, but when Pepper started to pace before the bed and rub her temples in frustration, he started to get worried. "What's wrong?"

"There's no easy way to tell you this and there's no point in dancing around it, so I'm just going to come out and say it. I'm pregnant."

For several moments, the pair just stared at each other, Tony taking that time to process what he'd just heard and Pepper fearing what he might say.

"Do…do you want it?" Tony finally made himself ask, trying not to make the situation about him, as he still had no idea how he felt about it.

At first, Pepper looked like she might scream, but managed to tone it down a little for the words that followed. "Of _course_ I want it, Tony. What kind of question is that? That _would_ be the first question you ask," she snarled, plopping down beside him on the bed. "I just…have no idea if _you_ want it."

"Hon…you and me would make one beautiful kid," he started, putting an arm around her shoulders. "I just…don't know if I'd make any kind of decent father."

Scared. That would be how he felt about this. Maybe a little happy…a little excited…but overall…scared. Scared out of his mind. What did _he_ know about being a dad? What if he wound up exactly like his own father and let loose another fucked up Stark billionaire on the world? He didn't think he could handle that.

"You're a better man than you know, you moron," she said quietly, leaning into his embrace. "You're not your father. You're you. Maybe you're not the textbook definition of a good father, but you've never been textbook anything, Tony Stark. You'd make a _great_ dad. That isn't what I was asking, though. Your inadequacy issues don't really concern me. What I want to know is…do _you_ want to have a baby with _me?_ " she asked, looking up at him.

"Yes," he answered right away, not really having to think about that part of the equation. Before he could say anything else, though, Pepper started to cry, burying her face in his chest. Once again, Tony found himself confused and a little floored. "What is it? Did I say something wrong?"

"Tony…I'm _scared._ You…you said that Extremis…changed my genetic code…right?"

"Something like that, yeah. It's a little more complicated, but-" he started to explain, not immediately making the connection.

"What if that gets passed to this baby? Would a baby be able to _handle_ that? What if it's too much? What if our baby _dies?_ " she sobbed. "I don't…think I could take that…again."

"Again?" Tony repeated, making the connection quicker this time, even though he for once found a small sense of security in playing ignorance. "What do you mean _again?_ "

"Tony…when…when Killian injected me with Extremis…I was pregnant."

_Oh, God…_

"I wasn't…very far…maybe a month. I didn't get the chance to find out. The…the rewriting process…it killed the baby."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Tony asked, holding her a little tighter.

"I was afraid…of what you might say…and I wasn't sure if I ever _could_ get pregnant again. I didn't want to think about…what it would mean if we'd lost that chance forever. Everything was just happening so _fast_ back then…and then Bucky and Loki showed up…so I just kept on not telling you."

"You know what?" Tony started, soothingly stroking her hair. "We are just not gonna worry about any of this bullshit. You're gonna be a mom…and I'm gonna be a dad…and we're just gonna focus on that and nothing else."

"But…what if the baby _does_ have Extremis?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now…let's go tell the others we'll be adding one more to the Avengers daycare center."

XxX

Pepper's suspicions, unfortunately, did turn out to be right. Tony had JARVIS keep a constant eye on Pepper and the baby and by the three month mark, it became apparent that the markers for the Extremis code were present in their growing child. The only person they could really turn to was Sinthea Schmidt, as the Extremis code was very similar in principle to the super soldier serum she'd created from Abraham Erskine's original formula.

Tony's first request had been that Sinthea rewrite the code, which she flat out refused to do, as there was no telling what effect that might have on the child, or if it would even survive such a process. The best she could do was stabilize the baby whenever it got too hot. There was no danger to Pepper, certainly, just some mild discomfort. The true task was to make sure the Extremis in its system didn't simply tear the developing child apart. It was a grueling pregnancy, but worth it in the end when Pepper gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby boy, whom she insisted on naming Phillip.

Tony was always adamant about the fact that he didn't like to be handed things, but it was different the day Phillip was born. He didn't protest when the S.H.I.E.L.D. doctor handed him his baby son. He just stood, still as a statue, while he watched the boy wriggle around in his arms.

"Wow," he mumbled, at a loss for words for perhaps only the second time in his life. His moment of fatherly wonder, though, was cut short when Phillip's skin began to burn hot.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he started, quickly passing Phillip to his mother. "I think this is your arena."

Briefly, Pepper looked worried, but the mothering instinct quickly kicked in and she began to rock her son, soothing him with whispers and hums as she offered him her breast.

"It's all right, baby. Everything's going to be all right," she soothed, and before long, the little boy's body heat had settled to something a little more regular and he was feeding contentedly from his mother.

That was really the only issue they had with the Extremis. By the time Phillip was two, his body had pretty well stabilized. In the classic tradition of fathers everywhere, Tony had simply needed to pass their son to his mama whenever he couldn't stand the heat.

**Noelle**

Bruce Banner had taken a great deal of convincing in the department of baby making. It had been a huge step forward when he was able to control the Other Guy enough for he and Betty to sleep together again, but he was at first adamant that they not have children, as he was afraid of passing on the curse in his genes to an innocent child. Betty Ross was patient, though, and knew just how badly Bruce wanted to be a father. If she could wait long enough, she just might be able to convince him to see things her way.

Perhaps his adopting Shanta after the incident with 2R had been a way to curb her desire to be a mother. Indeed, they were both very happy to have the nine-year-old, difficult as she could sometimes be after her conditioning at the hands of Grigori Dreykoff and 2R. It didn't really change much, though. It only made her desire stronger. It also seemed to her that it would be good for Shanta to have siblings. She knew Bruce agreed with her, even though he tried to pretend he didn't.

The decision was made for them the night of Steve and Bucky's wedding, though. It was a very amorous and alcohol-infused type of evening, and all the couples who could had wound up shacking up for the evening. Bruce had sworn after the fact that they'd used a condom, but if true, the only explanation was that it had broken, because Betty was late that month, and Bruce was horrified when she came back from the doctor with an ultrasound.

"Betty, we…we can't do this," he tried to argue. "What if it…what if it turns out like _me?_ "

"And what if it _doesn't?_ " Betty pushed right back. "You don't know if it will be passed on. For all we know, we'll be the parents of a perfectly normal, healthy, happy baby."

"Or we could just as easily be the parents of a baby Hulk. Would your body even be able to handle that? Betty, I…I won't be able to _live_ with myself…if this kills you."

"We won't be able to live with ourselves if we don't at least _try_ , Bruce. I can see you want this just as much as I do. Why won't you let yourself have it?"

"Because it's not just _me_ I'm concerned about. I can't afford to be that selfish. Your own health not withstanding…do we have any right to force what I am on a helpless _baby?_ What kind of father would that make me?"

"You're _already_ a wonderful father, and if it happens…that you _do_ pass it on, well…you learned to control it. We could teach our child to do that, too."

"It can't always be controlled, though."

"What's wrong with that?" Shanta's voice suddenly entered the room. Both of them looked up to see her standing in the doorway.

"Shanta-"

"What's wrong with a baby like you?" Shanta repeated before he could say anything. "There's nothing wrong with you. It's like…saying there's something wrong with _me._ Is there something wrong with me?"

Bruce sighed heavily at the hurt look in her eyes. Immediately, he went to kneel before her. "No, little tiger, of _course_ not. I only meant-"

"Then it shouldn't matter. It isn't the baby's fault. Why punish the baby?"

"What do you think, tiger?" Betty asked before Bruce could argue further. "Do you want to be a big sister?"

Shanta smile shyly at this. "Well…Aiden and Belle are siblings…and Eve and Mako. Yeah…I think it would be fun. Can I be?"

At this, Bruce sort of collapsed from his knees into a sitting position on the floor, laughing weakly as he brushed several tears from his eyes. "Well, I guess my girls have outvoted me on this one. Looks like we'll just have to take the risk."

Betty and Shanta both hugged Bruce at this, and even though the poor scientist was a nervous wreck for the next eight months, at the end of it, Betty turned out to be right. They ended up with a perfectly healthy baby girl with absolutely no trace of gamma poisoning in her system. Bruce insisted Noelle have her mother's last name in order to minimize her connection to the dangers being associated with him posed, but all in all, he was just relieved that Noelle had dodged his genetic bullet.

**Jormungand**

Loki was much better prepared the second time he went into labor. He placed a mild sleeping spell on Hel and Fenrir so the sixteen-month-olds wouldn't be underfoot during the birth. It might not have even proven necessary in the end, though, because his third child was a much smoother labor. He delivered the baby boy into the world quite easily, holding him firmly against his bare chest before even bothering to bathe him.

"Jormungand," he said softly as he held the wriggling child. "My little Jory."

Like Hel, Jory was born with the blue skin of a frost giant, and contact with Loki couldn't seem to thaw him out. It wasn't until Fenrir was able to hold him that Jory's skin began to change, as had happened with Hel and Fenrir when they were born. Loki hadn't quite managed to admit it to himself, but by the time Jory was born, he was already starting to forget his plans for Ragnarok. Even though he had been ill got, Jory was one of the few things he truly wanted from his life, and his other grand schemes were already starting to fall by the wayside.

Loki meant to tell Hel and Fenrir who their fathers were. He would tell the twins everything about Steve and Bucky…but the identity of Jory's father was a secret he would keep to himself…his own hidden shame. To protect Jory, himself, and maybe even to protect the little boy's father…he would take that knowledge to the grave.

**Howard**

The Avengers were almost surprised when Pepper became pregnant a second time after the tribulations of her first pregnancy. Even more surprising, though, was how smoothly the second pregnancy went. It seemed that the Starks' second son had somehow managed to avoid inheriting the burning Extremis code. There was no trace of it in the DNA testing Sinthea performed throughout the pregnancy and the labor proceeded very smoothly.

Tony couldn't be sure what spiteful demon took a hold of him when his second son was born, but something prompted him to ask Pepper if she would be all right with naming their boy Howard. Pepper had eyes him strangely for a moment before allowing herself to smile, thinking that maybe the name choice was a step in the right direction.

"Yeah…that's a nice name. I'm fine with it. Howard…little Howie," she said softly, smiling as Howie latched onto her breast for his first meal.

"Heh…Howie Stark," Tony said, finding an amusing sort of irony in the name.

**Rosette**

Bruce didn't freak out quite as badly the second time Betty skipped her period; he just paced nervously every time Betty went in for a checkup with Sinthea. This time, though, about five months through the pregnancy, Sinthea gave her less than favorable news after running the blood work several times.

"I hate to have to tell you this, but…it looks like this girl _does_ have the same markers for the gamma alterations Bruce suffered."

"So…so there's a good chance…"

"That this baby might be able to go Hulk? Yes, I'd say there's a pretty good chance."

"Oh, God," Betty groaned, her face dropping into her hands. "What will I tell Bruce?"

"The truth, I hope. He'll get suspicious if he asks to see the records from my testing and I won't let him. Then he'll just get Tony to hack my files so he can see them that way. One way or another, he _will_ find out."

"Bruce would want me to get an abortion."

"Is that what _you_ want?" Sinthea pressed.

" _No,_ " Betty snarled as she looked up at her friend. "I would _never_ …kill Bruce's baby…even if he asked me to."

"Well, that's good, because I really can't think of a stupider course of action. In his concern for you, Bruce has clearly forgotten that no weapon yet known to humanity or Asgardian can kill a Hulk. If an abortion were attempted…and the child were to go Hulk in the womb…I shudder to think what might happen. There really is no going back from this point."

"There's that, at least. I guess…all we can really do is hope for the best."

She told herself that all the way back to Stark Tower, but it was harder to remember when she saw the heartbreak in Bruce's eyes.

Thankfully, Rosette was born without incident, but it was nearly a year before Bruce felt he could stop tiptoeing around his youngest daughter.

**Marian**

Phil Coulson and Maria Hill didn't think about the future very much. They lived in the here and now. As such, when Maria discovered she was pregnant, they took the news like they did most things in their lives…just kept soldiering on.

The couple pretty much lived together, even though they weren't married. Coulson technically had custody of Jarah, one of the children liberated from 2R, but they both took care of the young boy. There wasn't really any debate over how the child would be raised. They would tackle this challenge together. They were a team. There was only one argument they ever had in regards to their daughter.

What would the little girl's name be?

Coulson argued for Stephanie, but Maria argued just as hard against it. She didn't want her daughter to be named after Captain America. She didn't really want her daughter to be named after anyone. She wanted something that would allow the girl to forge her own path…something that would be just hers.

The two agents argued on the subject right up until Maria's water broke…and just as she was going into labor, Coulson was called away to help out a group of rookie agents who'd gotten themselves into a fire fight. Maria refused to give up her earpiece in the delivery room and continued to scream at her partner all the while. Phil Coulson, of course, continued to verbally spar with her, even while saving a bunch of rookie ass, and it was in this moment, caught between a battle with terrorists and a fight with his significant other, that the man had an epiphany. His earpiece was destroyed before he could tell Maria his idea, but he did manage to get back to the Helicarrier before she'd actually given birth.

"Marian!" Coulson shouted as he swept into the delivery room, falling to his knees beside Maria. "Her name should be Marian."

Maria had been about to continue her tirade, but then she'd heard the name he'd suggested…and actually found she liked it. Smirking, she reached out to squeeze his hand.

"Fine. I guess I _won't_ kill you in your sleep tonight for putting me through this. You actually came up with something good."

Marian was born only moments later.

**Fiona**

Unlike when her older brother was born, Mimir actually asked for permission to examine Fiona upon her birth…to see if she might be the child he had seen in his vision so many centuries ago…the child whose fate it was to be the death of Thor Odinson.

"She is not the one," he said quietly after the holding the newborn for only a few minutes. "She does have some strength in her, though…a powerful magic."

"How do you mean?" Jane asked as the ancient sorcerer passed her daughter back to her.

"I could not say yet…but her way will not be made easy. Dark powers will covet this little princess. Freya Thordottir shall be tested…like the warriors of old."

"Mimir-" Thor started, his tone warning.

"If something's coming after her, then _I'll_ protect her," Balder insisted, moving to stand between the sorcerer and his mother and sister. Jane smiled at her son. At seven, he was already the de facto leader of the pack of Avengers children, and even though he was so young, he already shouldered a great deal of responsibility. If he already protected the other children as if they were his own siblings, then Fiona could have no greater protector than her own older brother.

"That's my boy," Thor said, patting Balder on the head. "Now, Uncle, if you've said all you need to say, I suggest you depart. Jane and Freya are tired and need their rest."

"As you wish, Nephew," the old Asgardian said before turning and leaving.

"Thor…what could it mean?" Jane asked, holding Fiona a little tighter against her breast.

"I couldn't begin to guess," Thor said, his face drawn as he sat down beside her. "But no matter what darkness threatens to do harm to our children…I will show them the true power of the lightning."

"I'll protect her, too, Mom. I'll help keep her safe," Balder said.

"I know you will, honey, and I'm very proud of you," she said, reaching out a hand to stroke his hair. The other thing that weighed on her mind was something they couldn't really discuss with their son in the room…the child who was destined to kill its father. Jane had worried almost constantly during her pregnancy that she was carrying that same child…and now that they had dodged a proverbial bullet yet again, she wasn't sure if she could _handle_ having any more children. What would happen if they _didn't_ have any more children? Was…was it possible for that fate to be avoided?


	2. Inconceivable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, these one shots won't necessarily be in chronological order. More like written as they come to me.

In retrospect, it seemed almost inevitable that the Avengers would start having movie nights, though they did have to be a little more careful about selections once the little ones came into the picture.

When their pack of children ranged in age from one to eight, it was discovered that they'd somehow been bad parents and not exposed their offspring to the glory that was _The Princess Bride_. All of the children were excited for the new movie…all except Russ.

"I don't want to watch a movie about a princess," the eight-year-old complained bitterly. "Princesses are stupid."

"Hey!" Noelle whined.

"Yeah, princesses can be a little old hat sometimes, but this one's a classic. I can pretty much guarantee you'll like it," Tony said to her, and because Russ and Tony tended to be like-minded, she decided to give it a chance…and was right up there with the Grandson inside of five minutes.

"Is this a kissing book?" young Fred Savage asked petulantly. Russ pointed at the screen, glaring around at the grownups.

"I'm with this kid."

"Wait. Just wait," her dad said with the Grandpa.

"Well, when does it get _good?_ " Fred Savage demanded, as if speaking for Russ.

No one answered her, though. They all deferred to Peter Falk, and as the minutes flew by, Russ began to settle into the swing of the movie, as they had all known she would. By the end, all of the kids were quoting voraciously, well on their way to becoming Princess Bride junkies.

"Mawwiage. Mawwiage is what bwings us togeva today," Russ and Phillip parroted together.

"Hello," Marian started as she hopped into her own father's lap. "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

"Inconceivable!" Chase chimed in.

"You keep using that word," Darcy joined in with her son. "I do not think it means what you think it means."

"Fezzik's my favorite," Rosie declared, rolling her head back to look up at Bruce. "He's just like you and me, Dad."

"Can we watch it again?" Howie asked.

"Maybe next weekend," Pepper said, getting up from the couch to pick up her six-year-old son. "Now it's time for all good little cubs to be in bed."

The kids all let out a collective whine, but allowed their parents to take them to their rooms. It wasn't long, though, before Phillip and Howie snuck into Russ' room with a laptop and the blu-ray of their new favorite movie. By the time Buttercup was trying to escape the shrieking eels, all of the other kids had also crept into Russ' room to watch, even Balder, the walking rulebook. That was how their parents found them the next morning, all asleep in a dog pile on Russ' bed with the laptop clutched securely in Phillip's arms.


	3. Backstreet's Back

It was well known among S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers that Darcy Lewis often engaged in what were commonly referred to as guilty pleasures…but without the guilt part. Darcy had zero sense of shame and her current indulgence was a nineties dance party

Darcy was cleaning up in the kitchen following lunch and she had her ipod playing all of her old nineties tunes. Using a pair of chopsticks as a microphone, she was rocking out to the tones of the Backstreet Boys between stacking dishes in the washer.

_Everybody, yeah._

_Rock your body, yeah._

_Everybody, yeah._

_Rock your body right._

_Backstreet's back, all right!_

_Oh, my God, we're back again._

_Brothers, sisters, everybody sing._

_Gonna bring the flavor, show you how._

_Gotta question for you, better answer now._

_Am I original?_

_Yeah._

_Am I the only one?_

_Yeah._

_Am I sexual?_

_Yeah._

_Am I everything you need?_

_You'd better rock your body now._

As Darcy rocked her body, she was joined by Clint, who had heard the music blaring. He smiled when he realized what he was hearing and immediately started to sing with her. Darcy pumped a fist in the air before placing the last dish in the washer and turning to Clint.

_Now throw your hands up in the air._

_Wave 'em around like you just don't care._

_If you wanna party, lemme hear you yell._

_Cuz we got it goin' on again._

_Am I original?_ Clint sang.

_Yeah,_ Darcy called back.

_Am I the only one?_

_Yeah._

_Am I sexual?_ Darcy picked up.

_Yeah,_ Clint fired back.

_Am I everything you need?_

_You'd better rock your body now._

And they did just that, rocking out hard to the nostalgic music right up until the end of the song, and the next one began with a bark of laughter and Scary Spice more shouting than singing.

_Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want._

_So tell me what you want, what you really, really want._

_I'll tell ya what I want, what I really, really want._

_So tell me what you want, what you really, really want._

_I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig, ha._

Neither agent had yet realized it, but they'd attracted an audience. Russ, Phillip, Chase, and Noelle had gathered outside of the kitchen and were watching the two adults rock out with looks of worry and confusion on their faces.

"What…the hell are they doing?" Russ murmured, looking slightly weirded out by the sight of her dad playing air guitar like a teenage boy.

"Should we…get the camera, maybe?" Phillip suggested lamely. His thirteen-year-old friend nodded vaguely, but no one actually made a move to go get the camera.

_If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends._

_Make it last forever, friendship never ends._

_If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give._

_Takin' is too easy, but that's the way it is._

"I think it looks like fun," Chase said, brushing the skeptics aside and bounding into the kitchen, dancing with his mother to the beat of Girl Power. When the Spice Girls had finished their turn, they were quickly followed by 'N Sync.

_Here it comes, Millennium,_

_And everybody's talkin' bout Jerusalem._

_Is this the beginning or beginning of the end?_

_Well, I've got other thoughts, my friend._

_See I've got my eyes on the skies,_

_The heavenly bodies up high._

_And if you're in the mood to take a ride,_

_Then strap on a suit and get inside._

Pretty soon, Rosie and Fiona came dashing into the kitchen, followed by Balder. Rosie would do anything loud and crazy and Fi, at seven, found everything fun. Darcy got Chase and Rosie into a loose dance circle and Clint lifted Fi onto his shoulders, dancing around with her.

_If you wanna fly, come and take a ride._

_Take a space ride with a cowboy, baby._

_Why-yi-yi-yippie-yi-yay-yippie-yi-yo-yippie-yi-yay ._

_Why-yi-yi-yippie-yi-yay-yippie-yi-yo-yippie-yi-yo._

Noelle shrugged. "Well…if you can't beat 'em…" she said, going to join the dance party. Both Russ and Phillip continued to watch incredulously. Balder shook his head.

"Come on, you guys. They're just having fun."

"You actually approve of this?" Phillip asked, raising an eyebrow. "Parents dancing around to their weird old music."

"Yeah, because that Pixel Cut stuff you listen to is so much better," the older boy pointed out. "I don't really see what's wrong with it."

_Don't be afraid at all,_

_Cuz up in outer space there's no gravity to fall._

_Put your mind and your body to the test,_

_Cuz up in outer space is like the wild, wild west._

"Yeah, okay, let's go see what _your_ dad's doing," Russ said. "At least _he's_ not a dork."

"End the transmission," Darcy finished with the song. "They've had enough."

"Well," Clint started as the two kids headed away from the kitchen, "never thought I'd see the day when Tony Stark was the normal one."


	4. "Let Me Hold Her..."

Zasha Ruslana Romanova screamed in frustration as she flung herself down on her bed.

"Didn't go well, I take it," Phillip said from where he was sitting at her desk.

The fourteen-year-old shook her head, her next words muffled by her pillow.

"Sorry. Didn't catch that."

Slowly, Russ looked up at her friend, her eyes bloodshot with the effort of not crying. "She says I'm not allowed back in R&D for a whole month…and she thinks Dad will agree with her when he gets back from Seoul."

"Probably true, though, in your defense, you couldn't have known there was an exposed wire."

"Don't you think I _tried_ telling her that? Uncle Bruce told her exactly what happened…and she's still grounding me."

Russ had been experimenting with one of her explosive concoctions in the lab and, of course, something had gone wrong. Really, the only reason she was still alive was that Bruce had been with her. Needless to say, her mother had been furious over the whole incident.

"She just…she doesn't _get_ it," Russ said, on the verge of sniffling. "This is a dangerous thing. Of _course_ things like this are going to happen. You can't let that stop you. The danger's not important."

"I think it's important to _her,_ " Phillip pointed out, the default snark setting gone from his voice for once.

"Yes, because _her_ work isn't dangerous at all."

"That's different and you know it."

"Maybe so," Russ admitted. "But she still just…doesn't get me at all. She doesn't _care._ "

Phillip's eyes narrowed at this. Then he stood from Russ' desk and held out his hand to her. "Come with me."

"What?"

"Come with me. I want to show you something."

For a moment, Russ looked like she might continue to argue, but she finally took the offered hand and let her friend lead her out of her room.

Phillip led Russ through several hallways in the tower before arriving at a locked door. When Phillip attempted to access it, JARVIS' voice came through the console.

"You are not authorized to access this terminal."

"Come on, JARVIS. Do we really want to go through the whole game of riddles today? We all know how this ends. I'm gonna bust my old man's codes and get what I want anyway. But let's not do that today. I need to show Russ something."

If AIs could sigh, Russ imagined JARVIS would have been. "As you wish. Welcome back, young sir."

"I've never been in this one before," Russ said as she looked around the terminal.

"This is the secure server where Dad keeps all his files on S.H.I.E.L.D. I only just broke the codes a few weeks ago…and I've been finding some pretty interesting stuff. We've got access to the 2R security recordings from the time your mom was captured by them."

Russ groaned. "Phillip, I already know the story about how I was born."

"That's just it. I don't think you do. I want you to see something I found, then tell me you know the story."

"Fine," Russ griped, plopping herself down in a chair.

"JARVIS, play the security feed from 2R cam 52, time stamp 8 A.M. December 21st, 2014."

"Yes, young sir."

At this, a holographic display lit up before the two, showing Natasha Romanoff on an operating table, surrounded by several doctors. She was making a clear effort not to scream as they cut into her.

"She's not properly sedated," Phillip explained. "This was done in a hurry. The rest of our parents are about to attack."

Russ remained silent as she witnessed her mother's supreme control of what must have surely been agony. She watched as the surgeons pulled her own tiny body from inside her mother's…saw how frail she'd been, how unlikely to survive…and she saw the look of exhausted rapture on Natasha Romanoff's face when she beheld her for the first time.

"Mom?" she whispered.

Something in her mother's eyes broke when they started to carry her away from her. Then her expression hardened into something fierce and enraged. Still open, still bleeding, Natasha seized a knife from the surgical tray and leapt to her feet, bringing the blade to the surgeon's back.

"Let me hold her," her mother demanded, keeping up a strong front, even though she was clearly about to collapse. "Let me hold her…just once."

Russ' eyes were locked on her mother as the surgeon passed her to her, warning her that she needed to be taken to intensive care.

"I know," Natasha said, shaking as she laid Russ against her breast, holding her close. "Just a moment…a moment…"

Zasha Romanova did not know her mother as a sentimental person. She knew the hard, disciplined woman who could bring nations to their knees. She did not often see the softness in her mother…but now, in this moment captured fourteen years ago, she saw only love…pure love, protectiveness, and adoration. In that moment, the baby in Natasha Romanoff's arms had clearly been the center of her world, and she would have done anything to protect her. Russ felt tears stinging at her eyes as she watched her mother gently kiss her forehead.

"I'll get you back," Natasha whispered. "I promise I will get you back," she finished, something in her expression breaking once more as she handed her daughter over to her enemies.

"Stop the feed, JARVIS," Phillip said softly. Once the playback had stopped, the two friends sat in silence for several minutes.

"I know you and your mom don't always see eye to eye…but can you really say she doesn't care about you after she went through all that?"

Slowly, Russ turned to look at her partner in crime, several tears streaking down her face. Smirking slightly, she said, "I guess I was wrong about you, Phillip Stark. You're not a complete ass. Where did I go wrong?"

Phillip shrugged. "Hey, what's a partner for, if not to dig up gory home movies on a rainy day?"

Russ punched him lightly on the shoulder before hugging him. Once they'd sealed up the terminal, Russ went in search of her mother again.

Natasha was in the tower's underground shooting range practicing when Russ found her, and she was clearly still angry, but Russ found that she herself was different now.

Her mom noticed her right away, seeing the tears on her face, but seeing a different meaning in them.

"I hope you aren't here to negotiate," she said as she pulled off her protective headphones. "Because you are still in deep, little miss."

"No…no…nothing like that. I just wanted to…apologize."

Natasha blinked several times. "Excuse me?"

"You said…I would understand someday. I think I understand _now_. I didn't…realize what it must have been like for you…when I was born."

Confusion immediately clouded the Black Widow's eyes at this. "Zasha, what are you-"

"You _suffered_ for me…and I've never appreciated that."

"How do you know that?" Natasha asked, setting aside her weapon and moving toward her daughter.

"Phillip…showed me the security recordings from the day I was born."

Her mother sighed. "I would have rather you'd not seen that until you were older, but if you-"

"Mom, I'm sorry!" Russ burst out, throwing her arms around her mother. "You risked everything for me…and I told you I didn't care if I threw it all away. I'm sorry I put myself in danger."

"Oh, Zash," her mother tried to soothe her, holding her close and stroking her hair. "It's not wrong…that you feel so strongly about it…but it's true that I wish you weren't so reckless. I nearly lost you…so many times…when I was pregnant with you…and then they tried to take you from me. Your dad and I…we couldn't handle it if we lost you to something like an overlooked wire. You're the best of both of us…and you can't go before us. There will never be another you in this world. You're too precious to waste on a mistake."

"I'm sorry," Russ repeated, clinging to her mother. "I promise I'll be more careful."

Natasha laughed quietly, feeling her throat tighten as she fought against her own tears. "You _are_ still grounded, you know."

Russ smiled up at her mother, even though there were still tears dripping down her face. "Wouldn't have it any other way."


	5. First Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grr, okay, yeah, I'm supposed to be on hiatus, but now this bloody Winter Soldier movie's come out and I am just overcome by my Bucky/Steve feels, so I'll give myself a little relief. I know I haven't done anything for this universe in a while. I actually have a fair amount written, but as I said, I'm supposed to be on hiatus. Don't worry, haven't given up on it. Hope this offering will sate for the time being.

Hel Lokidottir was twelve the morning she woke in a pool of her own blood.

Well, perhaps pool was a bit of an exaggeration, but she was willing to exaggerate for the hideous pain that was tearing through her abdomen. She didn't cry out. Hel wasn't one for screaming. Her first thought was that they'd been attacked in the night. What about Fenrir? Was he all right?

That fear was eliminated when she looked across their shared bedroom to see her twin sleeping peacefully in his bed. Her own bedding, however, was streaked with blood. Shifting her nightgown up with a tiny groan of pain, she fully expected to find a stab wound through her belly, but was amazed to find herself whole and unhurt. The blood was coming from between her legs… _inside._ Curling in on herself, Hel groaned a little louder, struggling not to weep for the pain that gripped her. What was wrong? What was happening to her? Was she _dying?_

Growling low in her throat, the girl forced herself up off her bed. Nothing was going to get better if she just lay here. Unfortunately, the small whimpers she couldn't keep in as she walked across the room woke her brother and he sat up in bed just as she reached the door.

"Hel? What's wrong?" he called to her when he saw her lean heavily against the doorframe, gripping the stone in white fingers. "Are you not feeling well?"

"I don't…I don't know what's wrong," she growled, panting with the effort it had taken just to reach the door. "I'm…bleeding."

" _What?_ " her twin demanded, leaping out of bed. Then his gaze darted between her blood-soaked sheets and the trail of tiny blood droplets she'd left. "What happened?"

"Don't know. It's coming…from inside," she explained as he came to her side. "I was…going to see Father."

"You shouldn't walk all that way," Fenrir insisted, trying to take her hand and lead her back to bed. "Let me go and fetch him. You stay here and-"

" _No!_ " she snapped at him. "I am no helpless babe. Just help me get there."

Fearing the sudden outburst, Fenrir immediately complied, taking her weight against his own body and helping her to walk. Hel's temper was already legendary, but she hardly ever turned it on him. Whatever was happening to her, it was serious. He didn't waste any more words as he helped his sister limp to the kitchen.

As usual, their father was already in the kitchen getting breakfast going, a fire crackling merrily in the hearth as something delicious-smelling sizzled in a skillet over the flames. Hearing them enter, Loki turned with a smile.

"Starting a little late this morning, are we not, Fen? I had to get the bread started without you. I didn't-" Loki's voice immediately died in his throat when he saw the two of them.

"Father," Hel groaned, clinging to her brother, "something…something's wrong."

Loki's face twisted in worry as he came to them. "What is it? What's happened?"

"I think…I think I might be dying," she said, trying to be brave, despite the pain. Her father's eyes grew wide in fear as he reached forward to take her shoulders.

"What do you mean, dear heart? What are you talking about?"

"I'm bleeding…from the inside…and it hurts so much," she whimpered, slowly lifting her nightgown to show him the tiny rivulets of blood that painted her legs. Loki breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled his daughter into his arms.

"Darling, I'm so sorry. You're fine. You're all right. This is my fault."

"But she's _not_ fine," Fenrir insisted, close to panic.

"Fen, it's all right. Everything's going to be just fine. I'll explain later. You stay and mind the fire. I'll take your sister back to her bed," he said, picking Hel up before either of them could protest.

"I don't need you to carry me," Hel insisted angrily, but her snap was immediately followed by another tiny whimper.

"I know that, little Valkyrie, but I want to. I see your pain and I want to help you. I know my daughter is strong. I know she does not need me, but I am still her father and I will always be there to help her, even if she doesn't need me," he said, cradling her close as he carried her back to her room. It was enough to quiet her arguing.

"What did you mean…when you said it was your fault?" she asked him as he set her in a chair beside their fireplace.

"I knew this would be happening and I never took the time to explain it to you," he said as he began to strip her bed of the bloody sheets.

"You knew? But…what _is_ happening to me? I'm…not dying?" she asked, allowing a little hope into her voice.

"No, of course not. You know you are…different from your brothers, of course. They will be men…and you will be a woman."

"Yes…I know that," she said, curling in on herself again.

"This is part of becoming a woman. It means you are physically mature enough to bear children."

"Children?" she repeated, the mere thought sending a small tremor of fear down her spine. She hadn't been raised to think of herself as a bearer of children. She was a warrior, just like her brothers…no different…other than what she had between her legs.

"Yes. With each cycle of the moon, a woman's body prepares to carry a child. If no child is created, those preparations must be cleansed from the body. For some this process is very painful."

"And I have to do this…even if I don't _want_ to have children?" she asked. She'd never really given the matter much thought until now, but having no say in the matter was the truly terrifying part.

"I am sad to say it, but yes. This is how your body works," he said as he finished putting new sheets on her bed, also laying down a towel to catch the flowing blood.

"Ooh, it just isn't fair!" she grumbled, another groan of pain following soon after as Loki picked her up to carry her to the bed.

"No, it isn't, but you can certainly say you can endure more than most warriors if you can bear a week of this," he said as he tucked her in.

"A _week?_ " Hel practically exploded, shooting bolt upright, but collapsing in pain just as quickly. "I must endure this torture for seven _days?_ "

"At the most. It may be shorter. I do not believe it will always be this painful. I assure you, though, so long as you are in pain, you will not have to attend your regular training and lessons. Won't that make Fen and Jory jealous," he said with a teasing smile.

"I suppose, but…isn't there anything you can do about it?" she pouted. He shook his head as he leaned down to kiss her on the forehead.

"No. It isn't something I can heal. This is normal. I can have Fen make you some tea to soothe the pain, and perhaps you should have a hot bath later. We'll do what we can, but really the only thing to be done is wait this out."

"And this happens _every_ month?"

"Every month. There's no stopping it, not unless you get with child, and I believe I should have to kill you if you did _that_ before you're of a proper age," he warned, only half-teasing at this point.

"I might consider it…if only not to have to feel this pain," she joked right back, burrowing under her thick quilt in order to suffer her pain in private.

"Well, then I'll just have to kill your child's father. I'll come check on you in a few hours," Loki reassured her before heading out, leaving her alone with her misery.

Fenrir came to her with tea not too long after, but she threw everything she could reach at his head when he entered the room, angry at him for not having to be a girl and angry at the universe overall for the injustice of it all. Fenrir slept in Jory's room for the rest of the week and from then on, the time of Hel's cycle was a time of tiptoeing and whispering in the home of the trickster.


	6. Stroller Duty

"Why can't Darcy do it? She usually has the pack on Tuesdays," Tony whined as he followed Pepper around the living room.

"Darcy would have trouble taking the kids to the park from Dubai. Looks like the mission's running a little longer than anticipated. Seems you're the only one on the calendar with nothing to do today," Pepper explained as she went over several checklists on her tablet.

"Well that's just not true. There's always something to do. I'm pretty sure I've got some kind of project or other going up in R&D."

"JARVIS?" Pepper interrupted. "Does Tony have any projects that need his attention today?"

"No, Miss Potts. I am fully capable of running all checks. The most pressing matter that will require human attention isn't due for another week yet."

"Traitor," Tony muttered under his breath.

"Don't worry, you don't need to take Howie with you. He's staying with me," she said, moving toward the bassinet that stood next to one of the couches, cooing down at their youngest son. Howie was only four months old and Pepper usually took him to work with her.

"Mm, yes, minus one. Still leaves me with five, and two of those five are Russ and Phillip."

"You can control your son, Tony. I keep telling you that. He only behaves that way because he thinks you like it."

"Yeah, well…sometimes I do."

"Yes…when it's someone else who gets to watch them. That's when you like it. Besides, Russ looks up to you too. She'll behave if _you_ tell her to. The others shouldn't be any problem anyway. Chase and Noelle are both sweet, well behaved little children and Balder will help you with all of them. He's very mature for his age."

"Yeah, the mature two-year-old."

"Two-and-a-half," Pepper pointed out. "Russ won't let you forget that the two of them are almost three."

"Good for them."

"Tony, we all agreed on this schedule. We _all agreed_ to support each other when one of us can't be there for them. Balder, Russ, Chase, and Noelle are no less our kids than Phillip and Howie are."

Finally Tony sighed and came up behind Pepper, wrapping his arms around her as they both gazed down into the bassinet, watching Howie play with his rattle. "I know. I know, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't find _something_ to complain about," he said, kissing her cheek. Pepper turned and smiled at him, giving him a kiss on the lips.

"No, I don't suppose you would be. Thanks for doing this. We'll see about proper compensation tonight," she said, winking at him as she bent to pick Howie up. "I'm sure Natasha would be fine with taking the boys for the evening."

Tony grinned eagerly as he watched the two of them head out of the living room. While he was certainly placated for the moment, it didn't mean he wasn't going to do this his own way…which was why the afternoon sun found itself shining down on Iron Man strolling into Central Park pushing a double stroller, with two other toddlers clinging to the stroller's sides as they walked with him. The fifth child, little Noelle, was situated in a carrier that Tony had incorporated into the armor. It didn't see much use, as the other parents were collectively angered by the insinuation that he would have one of the children with him in a situation that required Iron Man. Tony didn't think it mattered all that much anymore, though, as Noelle would soon be too big for the carrier and Pepper almost never let Howie out of her sight. Though…there was also the fact that Betty would be giving birth to a second daughter any day now. So long as the Avengers continued to turn out spawn, perhaps there would still be a use for his inventions.

Tony could see that several other park goers were in the process of recognizing Iron Man, but couldn't quite decide if they were going to crowd him and ask for an autograph. In more than fifty percent of cases, Iron Man could just take off if he didn't feel like dealing with the crowds. That would be a little difficult with the pack in tow, though, so he was relieved when the people decided to keep back, just taking in the amusement of seeing Iron Man push a stroller around a park.

"Uncew Tooonyyy," Russ whined, swinging the hand that wasn't gripping the stroller in wide circles, "Wanna go slide."

"No!" Phillip whined right back. "I wanna go swing!"

"Slide!"

"Swing!"

"Slide!"

"Swing!"

Quite suddenly, Phillip was springing out of the stroller and he and Russ were rolling around on the ground. They weren't really fighting, just play wrestling, but apparently it was something to do. Russ and Phillip seemed incapable of fighting.

"Stop that!" Balder insisted, toddling around to the other side of the stroller. "Not nice ta hit girls."

"Russ not a girl," Phillip insisted as the older boy pulled them apart. "Russ Russ."

"Okay, that's enough of that," Tony said as he took Phillip from Balder and tied him back in the stroller. While he was proud of his son for figuring it out, he also found it a little disconcerting to know that he could already work his way out of the restraints. "Don't know how you did that, but you are staying in the stroller until we get to the playground."

Phillip twisted his head to look up at his father, grinning much more maniacally than any almost-two-year-old had any right to. Tony Stark suddenly understood his own parents a little better.

Just then, Noelle started to cry. Tony quickly slipped her out of the carrier and started to rock her. Balder stood quietly by and Russ and Phillip continued to playfully punch each other, all while Chase sat beside Phillip and giggled, chanting, "Cookie, cookie, cookie," over and over again.

"Does the suit help?" a new voice suddenly asked. Tony looked over to see another father standing beside him, pushing a triplet stroller.

"Yeah," Tony said with a slight nod. "It helps."

"I'm jealous," the man said before continuing on his way. "These three can be a regular nightmare."

"My sympathies," Tony said, continuing to push the stroller with one hand while holding Noelle in the other. "JARVIS, can we get a little Brahms' Lullaby going here?"

"Right away, Sir," the AI said, the requested music beginning to play over the helmet's sound system. Chase and Noelle began to hum along with the melody as the group continued their stroll. By the time they reached the playground, the little girl was sound asleep.


	7. Teddy Bear

Even though she couldn't understand half of what was said, Jane had to admit she enjoyed watching Thor, Fandral, and Sif talk with Balder and Chase in Asgardian. She was picking up more and more words all the time, but most of the time, she was just watching them coo at the little ones in a foreign language that may as well have been baby talk to her.

There was one word, though, that she seemed to keep hearing and couldn't work out the meaning of.

Nalle.

Thor didn't use it much, but she noticed Fandral and Sif using it with Chase many times. One day when the two warriors were tucking the baby boy in before making the journey back to Asgard and she and Thor were in with them, having already put Balder to bed, she heard it again.

"Nalle. I keep hearing that one. What does it mean?" she asked her husband.

"Ah…hmm…" the Asgardian murmured to himself, seeking an explanation. Then he spotted something in Chase's cradle and went to pick it up. "Nalle is this."

Jane stared at the white smiley-faced stuffed bear for several moments before raising an eyebrow. "Teddy bear? They call him teddy bear?"

"What is wrong with that?" Thor asked, looking confused.

"Nothing, it just…seems a little less Viking than I'm used to from you guys," she said with a shrug.

"Well, he is our little nalle," Fandral said, kissing his son's cheek. "He will wield a sword in his time, but right now he is a baby bear."

Jane smiled at this. She was used to seeing Fandral as a dashing warrior, always out to charm the lovely young men and women, but something had changed in him ever since Chase was born. Granted he wasn't an active parent, but he still loved Chase very much. There was something more serious in him these days, more serious and determined…almost as if he wanted to prove himself worthy of being a father. She had to admit she liked seeing the change in Thor's capricious friend. Perhaps he might even find someone he cared for enough to settle down with…to start a family with.


	8. Grandmother

If asked what she would do if she ever again saw her youngest son, Frigga of Asgard honestly was not certain what her answer would be. Would she return him to prison…or would she let him go free? Her decision was made for her, though, when she actually did see him again…hiding in plain sight in their own private garden, cloaked in magic to all but her.

"Loki?" she whispered, hardly daring to believe it.

"Hello, Mother," he said, his expression indecipherable.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, moving quickly toward him.

"I wanted you to see them," he said softly, and only then did she realize he was holding two small bundles in his arms. "I don't know why. They aren't even truly your grandchildren…but I wanted you to see them."

"Oh…Loki," she said, her voice just as soft as she shifted aside the soft, warm blankets the two babies were wrapped in, seeing her son's devastating green eyes in the face of one and his delicate bone structure in the face of the other. "Your children?"

"Yes."

"Who is the mother?"

"I am."

"Ah," she began, nodding slowly as she looked up at him once more. "The father then?"

"Two Midgardians. One you know as one of Thor's companions…they call him Captain America. The other is one they call the Winter Soldier."

"Do they know?"

"They do, but not because I told them."

"And were these babes…conceived in love?" she asked, though she feared she already knew the answer by the look in Loki's eyes.

"No…they were not. These children were conceived in hate and pain," he admitted, a hint of guilt showing in his eyes. "I had other designs…when I caused them to be conceived, but…things have changed."

"They usually do…when you look into the eyes of your child for the first time," she soothed, pulling both him and the twins into an embrace. "They are truly beautiful, my son. I would be honored to have them call me Grandmother."

"Thank you…Mother," he said, his voice still soft as a hesitant smile moved across his face.

"What are their names?" she asked, gently taking the baby girl from his arms.

"That's Hel you're holding and this is her brother, Fenrir. They're only about seven months old now. Hel will not sit still for very long, though, so she'll probably be itching to get down before too long," he warned.

"Where have you all been living?" she asked as she rocked her little grandchild.

Loki shook his head. "I think you know I cannot tell you that. We are safer that way."

"I suppose, though you didn't choose a particularly safe time to return home. We have had threats from the Dark Elves. Your brother has even brought his family from Midgard…should you wish to see them."

Loki actually laughed at this. "Somehow I don't believe they would wish to see me. Besides, if they did, they would be obligated to inform the twins' fathers that they'd seen me."

"And you don't believe these men have a right to know their children, or they to know their fathers?" Frigga asked as Hel began to whine and wriggle, squirming to get down. Frigga smiled as she unwrapped the little girl and set her down on the ground. Hel immediately began to motor around the courtyard on all fours. Fenrir wriggled his arms free of his own blanket and started to clap.

"Well…it isn't so simple a thing as that," Loki said, his gaze drifting to follow his daughter. "If I were to go to them, I feel almost certain they would try to take the twins away from me. They would not think me a fit parent, but…Hel and Fen are all I have."

"You love them."

Loki looked up at her when he heard those words and when she saw the near shock in his eyes, she realized he hadn't even admitted that to himself. She smiled sadly as she reached forward to stroke Fenrir's downy blond hair.

"Perhaps…you will understand your own mother a little better from now on," she said softly, shifting her hand up to stroke his dark hair. She noticed he couldn't quite help the way he leaned into her touch. "I hope you don't forget that she loves you…as you love your own son and daughter."

"You will not tell Odin…will you?" he asked, eyes snapping open as he suddenly pulled away from the touch.

"If you do not wish it, no, but your father would be just as pleased as I am to have more grandchildren."

"I'm not so certain of that," he said, going to pick up Hel, holding both babies close, as if he meant to protect them from what he was saying. "Surely you've heard…there is a prophecy that the children of Loki are destined to bring about the Final Destiny."

"I have heard such things, but I have never seen much good in looking to the future before it comes. Do you love these babes any less for what is supposedly their fate? Would your brother love his children any less if it may be their fate to take his life?"

"What?" Loki asked.

"There was such a prophecy long ago, when Thor was but a babe himself…that he would meet his death at the hands of one of his children, but he loves his son no less."

"Somehow I do not believe I and these children will have such mercies. If Odin knew I had borne children, it seems to me it would be in his best interest to see them destroyed. He will not allow the offspring of Loki to live," he snarled quietly, clutching his children just a little tighter. Fenrir started to whimper.

"I do not believe that," Frigga said, gripping her son's arm just as tightly. "Hel and Fenrir are no less his grandchildren than Balder is. We are family…all of us. I pray these precious ones will help you see that."

Loki was about to say more when an alarm bell suddenly sounded.

"We're…under attack?" he murmured, almost not comprehending.

"Svartalfheim," Frigga said quietly. Then she leaned toward Loki one last time, kissing his forehead, then the two babies'. Fenrir began to cry in earnest as the alarm blared louder. "Stay here. You will be safe."

"I may not be here when you return," he warned her.

"Then keep yourself safe, my son…yourself and my grandchildren," she said, giving him one last smile before hurrying off. If Loki had known he was never to see her again, he might have done things differently.

As Frigga had promised, their little garden remained untouched. Dark Elves raced past, not seeming to realize the sanctuary was there. The fighting raged around them and Loki and his children remained unseen…until another warrior happened upon their little hideaway.

He was unlike any Dark Elf Loki had ever seen in the history books. He recognized him as one of the Kursed. When the enhanced being somehow saw through whatever enchantment Frigga had cast and approached them, though, he stopped before Loki, seeming to realize it was no ordinary Asgardian he was faced with. Loki said nothing, his eyes saying quite plainly what would happen to him if he attempted to harm the children. The creature shook his head, starting to move on.

"If I were you," Loki started, suddenly feeling a sharp spike of animosity toward the man who'd claimed to be his father, "I'd take the corridor to the right." The route to Odin's chamber. The Kursed sneered briefly before following his advice.

When Loki learned later that his advice had led the creature straight to his mother, he had to separate himself from Hel and Fenrir, fearing that his rage would take their lives as well as his own.


	9. The Playground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, my hiatus is at long last over. Let's see how much new material I can turn out.

It was a sunny day late in June when Steve and Bucky saw him. They hadn't truly been looking for him. It had been six years since Thor had come to them with the news that his brother had been killed in battle…six years since the twin children he'd brought to Asgard had vanished after he'd given his final wish they be taken to their fathers. They had searched for their children as best they could, but had had no luck these six years.

Mako, now twenty, was home from school for a brief visit before heading off to Brazil with Clint for a training mission. The little family intended to spend every moment possible with their long absent son and brother. Eleven-year-old Eve, who could usually be found helping to baby sit the pack, couldn't be bothered to be away from her beloved older brother for more than five minutes at a time. The little family was walking through the park when Bucky spotted him.

At first, he just happened to notice a slender man in a dark coat kneeling down to catch his daughter in his arms as she flew off the swing set. His eyes were next drawn to the long dark hair that caught in the breeze as he spun his little girl through the air. Then he saw the smiling, sparkling green eyes…eyes that he had only ever seen twisted in a sneer.

_My little soldier…_

"Steve," he hissed, seizing his husband's arm in a death grip. " _Look._ "

"Bucky, what is it? What's wrong?" he tried to ask, but his questions were answered the moment his eyes followed Bucky's stricken gaze and saw the ghost from their past standing there, clear as day.

"Father! Father! Did you see me?" the little girl cried out in joy, hugging her father tightly. "I never jumped so high before!"

"Yes, yes, I saw you, Hel. It was amazing!" her father cheered for her as two little boys gathered at his feet, one blond and one brunet. The little girl cradled in Loki's arms had dark brown curls and his same intense green eyes.

"No one can jump higher than Hel!" the blond child insisted, gazing adoringly up at his sister as he clung to his father's pant leg.

"I bet _I_ could," the smaller brunet boy stated petulantly, sticking his tongue out at his sister.

"That a challenge, little _baby?_ " the girl asked, wriggling in her father's arms and trying to kick out at her younger brother.

"Now none of that, little ones. Remember what I told you. If there's any misbehaving today, there'll be no ice cream."

As the three children started to protest, Loki turned and looked directly at them, a dangerous smile twisting his lips as he set Hel on her feet.

_Hello again, dear little soldier, Captain. They're beautiful, aren't they._

Then, in the blink of an eye, the trickster and his brood had vanished. Both Bucky and Steve raced forward, searching through the playground for any sign of their enemy and their lost children.

"Dad! Papa! What's wrong?" they heard both Mako and Eve calling after them. In the mad swirl of running children and parents, the world around them suddenly went black and _he_ was standing before them, glowering.

"I came here to warn you. Do not look for them. _Never_ look for them. Leave us in peace. They are _mine!_ They are all I have!" he thundered at them. Then, just as quickly as the vision had come upon them, it was over and they were right back in the playground. Still gripped by shock, Bucky fell to his knees in the dirt and Steve rushed to him the moment he saw him fall.

"You…saw it, too?" Steve whispered, holding his husband tightly in his arms in an attempt to stave off his panic.

"Uh-huh. Steve, that…that was _them,_ " he whispered back, barely managing to make his arms embrace his lover.

"Yeah. Yeah, it was…and him."

"He's not dead. They're still with him."

"At least they're safe. We know that much now," Steve soothed him, holding him close and beginning to stroke his hair, mindless of the attention they were drawing. Before too long, Eve and Mako had burst out of the gathering crowd.

"Papa, what's wrong?" Mako asked as he dropped to his knees beside them. "What the hell just happened?"

"You look like…well…like you've seen a ghost," Eve said, looking uncertain.

Steve and Bucky looked at each other for a moment, uncertain themselves. They had not told Eve and Mako about Hel and Fenrir. They had told no one. The only ones who had learned the truth were Jane and Thor, after they'd brought them news of Loki's supposed death.

"Makoto, Eve…there're a few things we need to talk about," Bucky said slowly, allowing Steve to help him to his feet.


	10. The Princess in the Tower

Most days Bruce Banner could handle anything the pack threw at him. After everything he'd seen and been through, there just wasn't a whole lot that shocked him anymore. There were some days that he had to admit to himself, though, that he was probably the only father in all of creation that was bothered when the kids played pretend.

Noelle was the princess. She was always the princess. No one contested her because no one else wanted to be the princess. Today she was Princess Anna and she had been put under a spell by the evil Pitch, played by Phillip. If he understood the game correctly, she had to be rescued or her heart would freeze. Because she didn't trust anyone else to play her knight, that role was filled by Balder, who was playing Prince Eric today. He led a group of merry adventurers, including Merida (Russ), Fix-It Felix (Chase), Hiccup (Howie), and Robin Hood (Marian). They were all currently playing 'the floor is lava' on various pieces of furniture while Noelle lay on a stack of couch cushions at the end of the living room, pretending to be fast asleep.

It wasn't any of this that bothered Bruce, though. No, what bothered him was the fact that Phillip had also cast a spell on Toothless the dragon, played by Rosie. While the others jumped from couch to chair to scattered cushion, Rosie scampered among them, completely unaffected by the blistering heat of the carpet lava, growling and fake-clawing at the others, trying to keep them from rescuing Noelle.

"Rahrgh, rahrhg, rahrgh!" the three-year-old growled, making fingers like claws as she ran to and fro. "Princess _mine!_ RAHRGH!"

Bruce shuddered a little each time his youngest daughter growled. Of course he knew they were only playing a game, but it still hit a little too close to home to see Rosie even pretending to be a monster.

He couldn't tell her not to play the game, couldn't explain to her why he didn't like it. She hadn't turned yet, but he couldn't help but remember that someday she might. She had it in her. Bruce breathed a tiny sigh of relief when Balder finally managed to get past Rosie, landing on a blanket that had been laid out around Noelle's "tower".

Being careful not to knock the cushions over, Balder leaned forward and kissed Noelle on the cheek. His oldest daughter blinked her eyes several times and sat up slowly, pretending to yawn. Then she leaned over and hugged her savior.

"Yay! The spell's broken! Thank you my handsome prince," Noelle declared loudly. While all this had been going on, Rosie had fallen over, wriggling around on the carpet as her own spell was broken.

"Toothless good now," Rosie said, crawling over to Howie and hugging him.

"Just you wait, you meddling heroes!" the evil Phillip proclaimed. "You haven't seen the last of me!"

"I'm bored. I wanna play somethin' else," Russ declared, picking up a cushion and throwing it at Phillip. "Let's play Merida!"

"Can I be the queen?" Noelle asked, always liking to be the one put under the spell, so in this particular game, the one time she wasn't a princess.

"Yeah."

"Wanna be Mor'bear!" Rosie called out, not quite able to say Mor'du. Once Russ had okayed it, she promptly dropped to all fours and started to growl again.

Always it seemed that Rosie wanted to play the monster. What would happen to her if she really became one…if she found out what she really was?


	11. Still Watches

_Little soldier…dear little soldier…_

_Winter Soldier…_

_He sees them now…legions of the dead…rising up to meet him…the dead that_ _**he** _ _killed._

_No escape…no escape…_

_**Murderer!** _

_Sinthea…hair long and red…and her face burns away to reveal the Red Skull underneath, laughing._

_"No escape…no escape," he chants._

_Needles…thousands of needles…and faceless Nazi scientists…all saying the same thing._

_**No escape…no escape…** _

_"Nothing…no one…you do not belong to yourself. Never have. You belong to us."_

_"No!" he shouts, hands reaching out to grapple with his enemies, only to grasp dust._

_"You can't hurt us…but we can hurt_ _**you.** _ _"_

_Steve…Mako and Eve…the other Avengers…the children…all dead._

_**No…no, no, nonono NO!** _

_"You did this. It's your fault. Everything your cursed hands touch_ _**dies!** _ _"_

_"_ _**No!** _ _"_ _he screams, covering his ears, trying to block it all out, but there's no escape._

_No escape…_

_Loki walks toward him out of the darkness, blood flowing from his mouth and eyes the milky white of one long dead._

_"Your fault!" he accuses, pointing a pale, trembling finger at him. He feels ice begin to creep up his body, moving swiftly toward his heart._

_"No escape…no escape!"_

_"Please!" he begs. "I tried…I did my best! I never meant-"_

_"No escape," Loki declares with such finality he almost doesn't feel the ice pierce his heart. Then he's being shoved out of the destroyed side of a train car…down into the endless abyss…falling, falling, falling…_

_No escape._

" _NOOO!_ " Bucky screamed as he woke from the nightmare, nearly strangled by the tangle of sweat-soaked sheets. He continued to struggle, not stopping until Steve had him completely pinned to the bed.

"Bucky! Bucky, _wake up!_ " he shouted desperately at him. "It's me! It's Steve. You _have_ to wake up!"

"Steve?" Bucky whispered when he'd finally calmed down, looking up at his husband through the darkness. Steve's face was lit by a thin swatch of moonlight.

"It's all right," Steve said, slowly laying down beside him and pulling him into his arms. "It was only a nightmare. It's over now."

"Steve," Bucky whispered again, clinging to him.

"You're safe. We're all safe. I'm here. The kids are asleep just down the hall. Everything's okay," he soothed.

Bucky didn't say anything; he just clung to Steve, burying his face in his shoulder. He made no sound, but Steve could feel it as he soaked his skin with silent tears.

"Who was it this time?" Steve asked after a time, gently stroking his damp hair.

"All of 'em," he muttered, his voice hoarse from crying. "Everyone…every…single…one of them…no escape," he said, his voice dropping to barely more than a whisper.

"It's fine. You're gonna be fine," Steve reassured him. "They can't hurt you anymore."

"Look," Bucky started, pulling himself away from his husband and sitting up in bed, "you haven't had any sleep this week with this. I should probably just go sleep on the couch."

"What? And make me walk the extra twenty feet to wake you up? Nah," he said, also sitting up and wrapping an arm around Bucky's shoulders. "You know how I feel about sleep. I got some wakin' up to catch up on. I don't mind."

"I know you don't, but you're gonna need your sleep before you take off for Singapore. Don't want you getting shot on the job," he said, shivering as he spoke the words. He had his good days and his bad days. They were mostly good days recently, but things tended to get dicey around the anniversary of the takedown of 2R. It had been a bad week.

"Buck, it's not-"

Steve's argument was interrupted by another scream. The pair glanced fearfully at each other.

"Eve," Bucky whispered before they both jumped up from the bed and sprinted down the hall to their children's room. Mako was already out of bed, cradling a sobbing Eve in his arms.

"Nein! Mutti! _Mutti!_ " she cried over and over again, spouting off several other things in German they couldn't quite understand.

"What happened?" Bucky asked as he sat down beside Mako, reaching forward to take the sobbing seven-year-old into his arms. Eve clung to him as she wept.

"She was dreaming about her mother. The agent who came for her…killed her mother in front of her. I don't know how…she doesn't speak of it…but she still has nightmares," he explained, reaching out to stroke Eve's blonde curls. Steve sat down on his other side and rested a hand on his shoulder, the entire family now sitting on Eve's bed. This was how relapses into the nightmare realm of the Red Room were dealt with…slowly…as they were awakened. Neither Steve nor Bucky ever asked for details. They would come as their children were ready to speak of them.

"I was lucky," Mako continued, his gaze going distant as he continued to stroke his sister's hair. "I didn't have to watch my family die. I was playing at a friend's house and…I don't know what they used…some sort of poison gas pumped into the house. When I came back, they were all just lying there…where they'd fallen…as if they'd only gone to sleep. I don't really remember…being taken. I must've started to pass out from the gas. When I woke up I was in that cell."

Steve didn't quite know what to say. It didn't seem enough to say that he was sorry for his son's suffering. Mako and Eve had seen horrors no child should have to witness…but they had helped each other and they had come through it alive.

"Mako…you're here now," Steve said softly as he pulled the teen into his arms. "You have a home…two dads and a sister who love you. I know we can never replace what you lost…but we do love you," he reassured him.

"I know, Dad," he said, burying his face in Steve's chest. He barely made out the mumbled, "I love you, too."

Like Bucky, Mako made no sound as he wept. In seven years of imprisonment, he had learned well to keep his pain inside, but in the two years he'd lived with them, he had gradually begun to let a little of it show. Steve didn't know how they managed it, but the little family somehow squeezed together on Eve's bed, all of them holding tightly to each other.


	12. The Last of the Really Great Paint Wars

There is a reason that, even at the age of seventy-seven, Nick Fury is still director of the reformed S.H.I.E.L.D. Despite numerous dangerous missions and various attempts on his life, despite the fact that he actually has a tombstone stating he's been dead for thirteen years, Nick Fury is still alive, kicking, and ready to rip your intestines out through your throat. Not for nothing has he remained alive and on top all these years. As such, one does not typically ask Nick Fury for favors. If one is smart and has plans of living through one's prime, one simply falls into line and does as one is told.

One, however, is not Darcy Lewis.

"Please?" Darcy begged, sprawling herself out across Fury's desk.

"No," he growled.

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

" _NO!_ "

"Why not?"

"Let's review what you just asked me. Your son is turning sixteen next week and the rest of the pack will be out of school. In order to celebrate his birthday and the end of the school year, the pack wants to be allowed to have a paint war aboard the Helicarrier during the test flight. Do I have that correct, Agent Lewis?" he asked, staring pointedly at her the entire time he was speaking.

"Yeah, that pretty well sums it up."

"And what the hell possessed you that made you think I would approve of something like that?"

At this, Darcy stepped back from the desk and sighed heavily, closing her eyes as if resigning herself to something horrible. "Sir, I didn't want to have to do this, but you've forced my hand. Chase, could you come in here please?" she called over her shoulder.

With that, the door opened and Chase Han Lewis stepped into the room, gazing at the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. with the most intense pair of Bambi eyes the nine realms had ever known.

"Please," he begged, smiling shyly at the director. "It's my sixteenth birthday. We've always wanted to do this. We promise not to hurt anyone. Pleeeeaase."

Fury stared at the teenager for several moments, completely deadpan. Chase just stared back, blinking big, watery puppy eyes at the man who had killed hundreds of enemies. Finally he slammed a palm against his face.

"Could someone please explain to me how this boy is so God damn _cute!_ No teenage boy has a right to be able to do those damn Bambi eyes! _Why?_ What the hell were you smoking when you had this kid, Lewis?"

"So you'll let us do it?" Chase asked, immediately perking up.

Fury groaned as he banged his head against his desk. "Yes. Just turn the damn eyes off."

XxX

"All right gang, listen up," Coulson began as he started to pace the bridge, walking up and down between the two opposing lines of the pack. "For this game, the birthday boy has opted for superhuman versus human. Are we correctly aligned?"

"Sir, yes, Sir," both Balder and Russ, the two team captains, announced. Balder was the leader of the superhumans: his fellow part-Asgardians, Chase and Fiona, Phillip the extremis child, and Rosie the Hulkling. Chase had chosen the team name The Agents. As the leader of the human team, Russ had chosen the name Defenders of the Paintbrush. Her team consisted of Noelle, Howie, and Marian. Marian could count herself as superhuman if she wanted, but that just didn't seem too fair to her.

"Good. The Agents may use their given abilities if it will avail them in their goal. The objective of today's exercise is to be the last team standing. If no winner is decided by sunset tonight, the team with the most members still standing will be declared the winner. Excepting family members, no agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are to be involved in the game. As for what constitutes a kill shot…any shot to the head, neck, or heart will be considered a sufficient hit. Anything less doesn't count and you will all be closely monitored to prevent any cheating. Are the rules understood?"

"Sir, yes, Sir," they all answered in chorus, even nine-year-old Fi.

"Excellent. Now, The Agents will have the bridge as their base of operations. The Defenders of the Paintbrush will have exactly ten minutes following the conclusion of this briefing to retreat to the lab block. Not a single shot is to be fired until that time has elapsed. Any premature firing will automatically disqualify the shooter. Any infractions of the established rules will be dealt with swiftly and silently. Don't think we can't see you," Coulson warned them all. "And if there are no further questions, the Defenders of the Paintbrush may withdraw."

No one had anything to add, so the four members of the Defenders of the Paintbrush immediately headed off the bridge, following after Russ. Once they were gone, the Agents gathered around Balder, eager to hear his plan of attack. As the children gathered, their parents sat back at the conference table, all watching with varying degrees of amusement and uncertainty.

"Fury, I'll never understand what possessed you to allow this," Betty said, nervously watching her youngest daughter's enthusiasm for the coming conflict.

"Oh, I'm looking forward to seeing mighty S.H.I.E.L.D. fall apart again," Tony said, kicking back and propping his feet up on the table. "This will be a glorious war."

"Dr. Ross, believe me, you're much happier never knowing of the horror I had to endure for this war game," Fury said, very specifically avoiding looking at anyone. "It seems to me, though, that this will be good training for the new agents when everything descends into chaos."

XxX

"I'm not scared of Noelle and Howie. They'll go down easy enough. Russ and Marian'll probably have to waste their time protecting them even. It's them we need to concern ourselves with."

"Even so, we don't know what their strategy is, so I want everyone in teams. Chase, you and Fi are with me. Phillip, I want you to stick with Rosie," Balder outlined.

"Quick question," Rosie said, raising her hand. "Do you want the Hulk or don't you?"

"I'm not going to say 'no'. If you find yourself in a situation where it would be useful, go ahead, but keep in mind that it does make you more of a target," he advised her.

"They'd have to catch me first," she said with a grin.

"True enough. Remember we aren't limited to the paint guns," he said, nodding at the toy weapons they all held. "Think you could rig something up?" he asked Phillip.

"It would be my pleasure," the young Stark said with a smirk, "especially if I get to use it on Russ."

"Don't focus too much on her. She might be team captain, but we still have three other opponents. Since we don't yet know how they're divided up, I want you and Rosie to focus on the starboard side. The rest of us will take port. When the signal sounds, we'll break for scouting missions. I want everyone to report back here when a complete sweep has been made, see if we can't get a handle on their movements. Are we all understood?"

"Perfectly, oh fearless leader," Phillip said, offering the older teen a sweeping bow. Before anything more could be said, what sounded like an air raid alarm blared throughout the ship, signaling the start of their war game.

"Agents roll!" Balder ordered, leading his team out through the port side exit.

As ordered, Rosie and Phillip headed out the starboard exit, weapons primed and ready for action. They'd gotten about halfway to the lab block without incident when Phillip was suddenly struck by an idea.

"Hey, Rosie, can you give me a Hulk? We need to get up to the next catwalk," he said, pointing overhead.

"Sure thing," the thirteen-year-old said, grinning as she slipped out of her jacket. Unlike the rest of her clothing, it hadn't been designed to stretch as she grew and she really liked this jacket, metallic blue with tiny green florets situated at all the hems.

"Quietly, please," he reminded her as he hefted the paint gun she'd discarded. "Never know where the others might be hiding."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure," she said, her grin widening as her skin began to turn green and her muscles began to bulge. She wasn't as big as her father yet, but she was certainly getting up there.

"Excellent," Phillip said, smirking with devious joy as Rosie hefted him up onto her massive shoulder. Once he was secure, she launched herself into the air, grabbing onto a cable hanging from the upper catwalk and hauling them all the way up. Phillip immediately set to work while Rosie stood guard.

"All right, that should about do it," he said once he'd rigged up the last of his little snipers, each loaded with a shot of paint from his own gun. "We'd better-"

Whatever he'd been about to say was cut off when a giant green arm suddenly wrapped around him, yanking him backward. The scent of fresh paint filled his nose as his Hulk protector threw herself backward along the length of the gantry.

"Take that, you fail agents!" Noelle's voice sounded from the other end of the catwalk. Phillip groaned as he looked up past the massive arm that kept him pinned, seeing Noelle and Marian standing at the far end.

"Really? That's the best insult you've got?" he jibed. When he looked down at Rosie's arm, he discovered it was covered in purple paint. "You all right?" he asked, glancing up at her. She just grinned at him. Her face and neck were clear and being that he was pinned against her chest, it was most certainly clear. Returning the grin, Phillip disentangled himself from her. "Well, if you're so damn cocky, why don't you come and get us?"

"Maybe I will," the eldest Ross said, priming her paint gun and charging forward.

"Noelle, stop!" Marian warned the older girl, grabbing hold of the back of her top, but it was too late. Noelle had tripped one of the sensors Phillip had set. Immediately, a volley of red paint was fired at chest level.

"Fuck!" Marian hissed, pulling back on Noelle, her strength barely enough to pull the fifteen-year-old with her as she leaped over the side of the gantry. Holding onto the rail with one hand and holding onto Noelle's shirt with the other, she was left defenseless as they hung precariously from the rail. Her gun was still lying on the gantry. Marian took all this in in only a moment before looking back toward their opponents, who were now moving steadily toward them.

"Noelle, listen to me," she said softly, keeping her eyes fixed on the other two. "I'm going to drop you onto the next catwalk."

"But it's so far!" she hissed, clinging a little tighter to Marian's hand.

"Come on, it's like ten feet," she groaned, straining with the effort of holding them both up. "You need to get to Russ and warn her this area's booby trapped.

"What about you?" she asked, looking back up at her.

"I can't hold us both. If I lose that gun, we've probably had it anyway," she said. "I can take care of myself. Now go!" she shouted, giving one feeble swing of her arm and dropping Noelle down onto the gantry below them. Noelle screamed as she fell.

Once she'd made sure Noelle was safe, she tried to reach back up for her gun, but found it crushed beneath Rosie's massive fist. She also found Phillip leering down at her as he aimed his paint gun at her.

"End of the line, Robin Hood," he said, firing just as she let go of the rail.

"Marian!" Noelle cried out as she crashed down onto the catwalk, her chest covered in an ugly splatter of red paint. Without thinking, Noelle made to help her.

"No!" Marian shouted. "Go! Get outta here! I'm done! Get out!"

Looking torn for a moment, Noelle finally turned and ran. Phillip shook his head as he looked down at the wrecked gun.

"We probably could have used that. Oh, well, at least the paint reservoir is intact. I'll rig up a few more snipers before we head back."

XxX

Balder, Chase, and Fi were making their way through a hanger when Balder suddenly heard something click and begin to beep. He looked up and saw a small device attached to one of the planes not five feet in front of them.

"Tick tock. Time's up, thunder spawn," Russ' voice sounded over a loudspeaker.

"Oh, no," Balder muttered as the device began to beep faster. "Run!" he shouted, grabbing hold of his little sister's hand and turning tail. Chase was right behind them, but he could already tell they weren't going to be fast enough. Wasting no time, he picked up his little sister and threw her clear of the blast just as it went off.

Fiona flew several feet before hitting the ground and rolling to a stop, turning back just in time to see the firestorm of paint.

It was an explosion, but not of fire and shrapnel, as Zasha Romanova's tended to be. It was a literal explosion of paint, blue color flying everywhere. At least one plane was covered in the stuff and several others had received healthy stripes of blue spray. In the midst of it all, Chase and Balder lay, covered head to toe in blue paint.

"Balder!" Fi cried out, looking ready to run to her brother.

"No, Fi," he called to her, barely managing to lift his head. "Go. Go back to the bridge. Get to Phillip and Rosie. Tell them what happened. Tell them…Russ has paint bombs," he said, his head finally dropping into the muck, heavy with paint.

Fi looked horrified, but finally managed to pull herself up and run. Once she was gone, Russ and Howie emerged from the control booth.

"Two Agardians down, one to go," Russ said with a very satisfied smirk.

XxX

Rosie and Phillip were both amazed when Fi limped back to the bridge with sprays of blue paint on her legs and her horrific tale of the fall of Balder and Chase in an ocean of blue paint.

"Well, I guess we'll have to stick together from now on. Russ has probably got the whole place rigged. That's a fuckin' kill shot," Phillip said.

"Language, little mister," Pepper scolded from her place at the table, not even looking up from the digital screen she was working at.

"Sorry, Mom," the eldest Stark said, rolling his eyes as he spoke.

"I take it that apology extends to the eye roll," she continued, still not looking up. Phillip glared as he looked over at his mother.

_How the hell does she do that?_

"Y'know she can probably tell what you're thinking right now, too," Tony reminded his son.

"Okay, fine. We'll leave," Phillip huffed, starting to lead the way off the bridge. "I've got an idea anyway."

Rosie's gaze darted between their new leader and their parents for a moment before she took Fi's hand and followed after Phillip.

XxX

Everything seemed normal enough when Russ, Howie, and Noelle entered Aiden's section of the lab block. It was the last portion of the block they had yet to sweep. Their older brother had been doing research on toxic gases in this chamber, but there was nothing going on in any of the labs at the moment, as they were only on a test flight. Russ had thought Phillip might take the opportunity to booby trap some of the lab equipment, but they hadn't found anything yet and she had taken her own opportunity to rig the entire block to blow with her glorious paint bombs…all except this room.

And unfortunately, it turned out to be her greatest mistake.

Phillip, Rosie, and Fi emerged from the lab's control booth, all smiling. Russ was just about to fire on her partner in crime when she realized what she'd done. They were in a giant gas chamber!

Russ managed to grab Howie around the waist and dive out of the chamber before it sealed itself, but Noelle was hit with a mass spray of red, green, and silver paint as the nozzles overhead unleashed their rage. Just as the spray was making contact with her skin, though, Noelle managed to fire off two shots of purple.

Rosie was hit in the chest, laughing and shouting in pretended pain as she went down. Phillip managed to grab Fi and dive back into the control booth, but when he looked down at her, he found that she had also been hit, her face covered in Noelle's purple paint.

"Oh, Fi, not you, too," he groaned.

"It's okay, Phillip," she said, giving him a small bump on the shoulder as she smiled through the smear of purple. "Go and avenge us. Avenge the Agents!"

"Right," he said, wiping her face off with his shirtsleeve before going to work detaching the access panel that led into the utility system. Russ and Howie would be able to work the door open the moment the gas nozzles stopped and he most certainly didn't want to be there when they did.

Indeed, when Russ and Howie busted back in about five minutes later, they found only two downed opponents instead of the hoped for three. Russ growled when she saw the loose access panel.

"I'll find you, you little rat," she said, smirking as she patted the array of tiny paint bombs attached to her belt. "I'll _always_ find you."

XxX

It was near sunset when Russ and Howie finally decided to march on the bridge. They hadn't found any trace of Phillip or his handiwork anywhere else on the ship, so it seemed he was going to force them to bring the fight to him. When they finally emerged onto the bridge, they found it disconcertingly deserted, save for the absolute minimum of crew.

"All right, Stark, we know you're in here. Show your pretty little face!" Russ challenged, gun primed and bomb in one hand. "Let's see how all your girlfriends like you when you're as blue as a giant smurf!"

"Aw, you don't like my pretty face, Russ?" a voice from directly behind her challenged. Russ spun on her heels, coming face to face with Phillip, holding a paint gun to his little brother's head.

"Let him go now, Stark!" the sixteen-year-old snarled, holding up one of her bombs.

"Ooh, gonna win by taking out a fellow team member, Romanova? Really low."

"Just do it, Russ," Howie snarled as he struggled against his older brother. "It's better than letting _him_ win!"

"Keep quiet down there, baby Howie," Phillip snapped at him, wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling his head down, incapacitating him.

"You heard the boy. What's holding me back?"

"This whole room is rigged with snipers. If you take a shot at me, we _all_ go up."

"It's still better than letting you win," she said, smirking, even though she didn't take the shot. For what felt like several long minutes, they just stared each other down…until Howie's cry of pain suddenly snapped them out of their private battle.

"Phillip, you're _hurting me!_ " he cried out. "Let go!"

Phillip hadn't realized it until then, but the arm he was pinning his brother with was burning with extremis, and it was starting to burn Howie's neck. Briefly panicking, Phillip accidentally fired off the shot, splattering his brother's head with red paint as he released him to the floor, coughing.

For a moment, they were all too shocked to do anything. When the final two combatants looked each other in the eye again, they both realized that something a little more serious than they'd known was happening here…and it was just between the two of them.

"Almost out of time," Phillip said softly, nearly mesmerized by the light from the setting sun as it sent streaks of gold through Russ' dark red hair. Russ stared at him just as intently, left almost stunned by the play of the fading light on the burn lines on Phillip's arm and in his eyes.

"Uh-huh," she said, nodding slowly. "Guess we'll have to see who's faster."

At that, she let fly the bomb in her hand, setting it to detonate. Hardly a moment later, Phillip had signaled his snipers to fire. He didn't see what happened after the blue paint exploded in his face.

It took the oldest Stark several moments to clear his eyes enough to see what had happened. He was completely covered in blue paint, but the forward area of the bridge was completely spattered with his red paint. Russ was nowhere to be seen, though.

"Russ!" he called out, jumping off the upper deck and down among the stations, feeling almost worried. "Russ, where are you?"

He heard her laughing the moment he spotted her…a pair of short legs sticking out from under one of the empty workstations, splattered with red paint. But as she climbed up from under her cover, he could see that her upper half hadn't been hit. Zasha Romanova was still standing.

Phillip growled as he moved down to help her up, but he was also grinning.

"Romanova one, Stark zero," she said as she took his hand, allowing him to help her up.

"Next time, Russ. Next time," he said…but they still didn't let go of each other's hands once she was standing up.

In the moments before they did let go, their eyes met yet again, and even though neither of them was really sure what, they both knew that something between them had changed in those five minutes. The thought would be packed away for later examination on nights spent lying awake in bed, but for now, it would be forgotten, mixed up in the aftermath of the game, the cleanup and the celebration. The war game would go down in the annals of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the last of the really great paint wars.


End file.
